Elite: Dangerous Dev Diary #7

The latest Elite: Dangerous Dev Diary (#7) has been posted, in it David talks about the upcoming Alpha process and how that will work for backers. He also answers some of the questions posted by fans in the Private Backers Forum.

Keep tuned to these updates to learn more details as we enter the Alpha phase of the game’s development – exciting times for us all!

If you’d like a question considered for a future dev diary and your reward level provides Private Backers Forum access then pay a visit via the link below and selecting the Private Backers Forum link. You can also check out the latest Peek of the Week while you are there.

The wider forums are available to everyone, there’s already lively discussion about game features and the Elite community at large:

Time is running out to order some of the physical reward add-ons (mugs, concept prints and t-shirts), you only have until October 31st, so if you’d like any of these items then you should order them now.

You can order though the backers app, if you need help with the app or have any questions then email us at edbackers@frontier.co.uk.
The latest newsletter will also be released soon, so keep an eye on your inboxes for that.

Comments

Greetings Commander,
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Welcome to the Elite Dangerous Newsletter #130.
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This week we take a look at some great content from the community in our Horizons Highlights, bring you important news about upcoming changes and adjustments to The Engineers and give you all the details of our huge Summer sale.
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As always, you can hear the latest news and updates directly from the development team on our Forums, Twitter, Facebook, Community Homepage, and right here in the newsletter every week, and we're always eager to hear your feedback.
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Pick up the Elite Dangerous: Horizons Season Pass today for only £13.39, €16.74, $20.09 or RUB 997,63.
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Fly Safe CMDRs!

Elite Dangerous Newsletter #129 - Friday, 17th June 2016
http://email-elitedangerous.com/3F35-91K2-2433Y32QA1/cr.aspx.
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This week we're showing off some incredible community creations, including a must-see live action short movie, we're telling you about some of the tweaks and changes we've implemented thanks to community feedback, taking a little trip in an Orca with some Elite Dangerous-style space tourism and much more.
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• Horizons Highlights
We’re always impressed by the screenshots and videos our community post on social media and our forums… here’s a collection of a few of our favourites from this week.

Local news articles were added at the Engineers bases to help direct players to locations where they are able to source the materials they need. In addition we increased the amount of materials you can hold from 600 to 1,000 and increased the amount of Data you can hold from 200 to 500 units.

Alongside these changes we also made some adjustments to the requirements to unlock a couple of the Engineers. Specifically, we reduced the required number of rare goods to unlock them down to 50 tonnes. We also adjusted the availability of rare goods in the galaxy slightly, too. States will still change the allocation of rares but the numbers are more favourable than they were.

The development team worked incredibly hard over the recent week’s and are always looking at and reviewing the feedback from the community. There will be an additional point update coming soon which will also include a number of fixes and changes based on feedback from the community. We’ll have some more news on that soon.

See the original post here:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/265277-Serverside-update-and-upcoming-point-update.
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• Tourism - Location, Location, Location
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The graceful Orca will finally get the love and attention it deserves, as passenger gameplay is coming as part of the next major content update to Elite Dangerous: Horizons.
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We'll have much more information on 2.2 in the coming weeks, so keep an eye on our social media channels and our weekly newsletter to find more.
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One aspect of Passenger Gameplay will be Tourism, so we're building a massive database of the best tourist hotspots in the galaxy. There's nobody who knows the galaxy better than our intrepid explorers, so we're asking for a helping hand from our Commanders to make the location database as thorough and complete as possible!
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Executive Producer Michael Brookes has arranged a competition on our forums where you can submit a location to be used in the game. If the location you submit gets used, your CMDR name will be added in-game in connection with the chosen location.
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You can see all of the details, and find out exactly how you can get involved, by visiting the original forum post:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/266046-2-2-Your-Input-Needed-Passenger-Tourist-Destinations.
• EDC Commonwealth Codebreaker Event
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The EDC Commonwealth are arranging a massive code breaking event, where participants will have to answer a series of questions in order to win prizes. See the original post here to find out how you can get involved.
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• GalNet Focus
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• The Danger Zone CQC Livestream
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• HCS Voicepacks - Obsidian
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The guys at HCS voicepack have launched their latest addition to the collection, with YouTuber Obsidian Ant!
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You can watch the trailer for the pack below, made by Obsidian Ant himself... how fitting.
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From the site - "Obsidian - Over a thousand responses including Ai "Jazz" for the Galaxapedia & Constellations."
https://www.youtube.com/watch….
• Reddit AMA Series
• Community Goals Update
• Comms Chatter
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Elite Dangerous Newsletter #129 - Friday, 17th June 2016
http://email-elitedangerous.com/3F35-91K2-2433Y32QA1/cr.aspx.
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Fly Safe CMDRs!

Elite Dangerous Newsletter #128 - Friday, 10th June 2016
http://email-elitedangerous.com/3F35-8T55-7132ZABOD0/cr.aspx.
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• Ship Kits Live On the Frontier Store Now!
Head over to the Frontier Store to pick up our new ship kits for the Sidewinder, Eagle, and Cobra. These kits will give your ship a completely unique look, with hundreds of combinations available to experiment with.
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You can mix and match the pieces on the ship, to get the exact look you want and the pieces will change colour to react to the paint job you’re using. There are more examples of the ship kits in use on the store page..
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• Horizons Highlights: The Engineers
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We’re always impressed by the screenshots and videos our community post on social media and our forums… here’s a collection of a few of our favourites from this week.
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- Ace pilot Isinona returns with his Flight Assist Off Series, adding a new rule to celebrate the launch of 2.1 The Engineers – no insurance rebuys allowed. If he dies, a massive part of his fortune dies with him...
https://www.youtube.com/watch….
- Bolt vanderhuuge posted this stunning screenshot… something you could only ever see in Elite Dangerous: Horizons.
https://imgur.com/a/QRcSY.
- Obsidian Ant continues his journey to the edge of the galaxy, and visits a few planets in “the Desolation Ridge”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch….
• The Dangerous games Update and Stream
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The Dangerous Games Wildcard Community Goals have kicked off with a bang. After a long week of Gold mining the groups have battled it out for points in the first of the three challenges they will face.
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• Powerplay Annual Summary
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CMDR Corrigendum takes a look back at the first year of Powerplay, digging deep into the political struggles of the last 12 months.
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Elite Dangerous Newsletter #128 - Friday, 10th June 2016
http://email-elitedangerous.com/3F35-8T55-7132ZABOD0/cr.aspx.
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Fly Safe CMDRs!

Elite Dangerous Newsletter #127 - Friday, 3rd June 2016
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/259735-Newsletter-127.
Horizons Highlights: The Engineers
The Engineers was launched last week at no additional charge to all those who own the Horizons season pass, and already we’re seeing some beautiful screenshots and videos.
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Plotting a route to Beagle Point just got that little bit easier, with the new bookmarks system. CMDR Gienkov has his route sorted…
http://i.imgur.com/creXfMy.png.
CMDR Klassic found this ‘poor little Condor’ floating alone in space… we can only wonder what happened here.
http://i.imgur.com/PwoGhPs.jpg.
According to CMDR Allerose, the New Huge Weapons are super effective… look at the mess they’ve left behind!
http://i.imgur.com/Y1m8JEc.png.
CMDR Paul Loachman visited Farseer Inc… he took this lovely panoramic screenshot.
http://i.imgur.com/Mr9h5vu.jpg.
Obsidian Ant uploaded this video detailing the FSD upgrades available via the Engineers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch….
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Elite Dangerous: Horizons Commanders on PC and Xbox One will receive further expansions at no extra cost as the season continues. Future gameplay updates will debut for PC and Xbox One simultaneously, bringing new activities and new ways to play on both platforms:
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• Ship-Launched Fighters, allowing larger spacecraft to carry their own short-range fighter craft for attack and defense.
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• Multicrew, allowing teams of Commanders to assume roles aboard the same ship.
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• Commander creation, giving a unique appearance to Commanders’ in-game avatars.
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What’s more, Xbox One Commanders who purchase Horizons before the 30th July will also get access to the Cobra Mk IV in game. This early incentive mirrors our pre order incentive previously offered to PC players. The Cobra Mk IV will be available in selected ship yards if you have access and will require in game credits to purchase.
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Elite Dangerous Newsletter #127 - Friday, 3rd June 2016
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/259735-Newsletter-127.
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Fly Safe CMDRs!

As always, you can hear the latest news and updates directly from the development team on our Forums, Twitter, Facebook, Community Homepage, and right here in the newsletter every week, and we're always eager to hear your feedback.

It is refreshing to see the time resource being actively used as part of the development, so many projects are otherwise rushed out in a great hurry, with the promise of patches forever hereafter. Just not today, for yesterday came in the way. :-)

Alpha and Beta are for bug testing, in Gamma we expect people to play as they would normally - which is why we've said we'll take the time we need to ensure that these stages are completed correctly. We won't be reseting during Gamma unless something completely game breaking is discovered.

Gamma Phase !! Ok that's a brilliant idea...Does that mean we needn't take our roles to seriously ?
I mean after the Gamma and you have ironed out the bugs do our ratings get reset or should we still be cautious of what we do and maybe NOT attack a station to find bugs ?

Superbacker

I had pledged more than £200 but I selected the £150 reward because I want to wait for the beta.
(I admit, it is an excuse - I am too busy to be able to devote enough time to make my feedback worthwhile for the alpha)

Interesting that all Kickstarters will now participate in a Gamma phase. This obviously gives Frontier more time to get to the "gold master" while still keeping to the original March date. I have no problem with this as long as the Gamma starts in March and the more time they spend developing the game the better.